Mixed Multitudes: Nobody's Free 'Til Everybody's Free
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Mixed Multitudes: Nobody’s Free ‘til Everybody’s Free A Racial Justice Haggadah for Pesach Raul Ayala 1 This haggadah is an open-source resource, available for download at jfrej.org. Please download, share, and use 2 the haggadah widely and freely, but please cite if you are excerpting for your own use. Sarah Quinter Introduction by 2016 Racial Justice Seder Planning Committee: Graie Barasch-Hagans, Robin Blanc, Ruben Brosbe, Megan Madison, and Mackenzie Reynolds Chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mimitzrayim. Each person must see themselves as though they came out of Mitzrayim Tonight we come together, as Jewish communities have for countless generations, to retell an ancient story. But while the story is old, we come together with a new purpose, to tell the story firmly planted in and committed to the reality that we are the mixed multitude. We tell this story today together as part of our collective fight for racial and economic justice, for collective liberation, and for the expanse of freedom. Tonight we celebrate the freedom of the Israelite slaves. And we imagine for ourselves today: What would the world look like if everyone was free? In the narrative of the haggadah, we wonder: what is the moment of freedom? Is freedom achieved? Are liberation and freedom the same? And: at whose expense does Israelite freedom come? Is the exodus of the mixed multitude from Mitzrayim a moment of collective liberation, involving Egyptians and other non-Israelites suffering under Pharaoh’s rule? Or does collective liberation also demand the liberation of Pharaoh from his hardened heart and the fortress of power around him? Our tradition tells us: “B’chol dor vador chayav adam lirot et atzmo k’ilu hu yatza mimitzrayim. In every generation, each person must see themself as if they had come out of Mitzrayim.” As though we ourselves are coming into liberation during this time. As we celebrate our own freedom tonight, we will think about people whose freedom has yet to be won and the ways in which we ourselves are still not free. For we know from Fannie Lou Hamer “the changes we have to have in this country are going to be for liberation of all people—because nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”1 Maybe this is the core of our tradition of returning to this story every year, of telling it as though we ourselves were there. We do it to remind ourselves: our freedom is bound up in collective liberation. The traditional haggadah ends with “next year in Jerusalem.” Tonight, we will end ours with: Next year, in freedom. It voices our deepest aspirations: that freedom and liberation will come speedily, and in our days. And, also, it reminds us that there will likely be a “next year” of the struggle to continue on in, until we are all free. This haggadah we’re using tonight is based on the traditional one, but is meant to be interrupted, questioned, embellished and edited. The five of us writing this haggadah are diverse in race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, and Jewish experience, but all come from Ashkenazi traditions. We invite you to adapt the seder to include your own traditions and to meet the needs of your communities. For those of you who have never been to a seder before, it is a collective activity, a communal storytelling. This this ritual belongs to all of us. 1 Hamer, Fannie Lou. “Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free,” (Speech Delivered at the Founding of the National Women’s Political Caucus, Washington, D.C., July 10, 1971). In The Speeches of Fannie Lou Hamer: To Tell It Like It Is, edited by Maegan Parker Brooks and Davis W. Houck, University Press of Mississippi, 2011. 134–39. Sarah Quinter 3 Sarah Quinter Some notes about moving through this Haggadah... comes from Exodus 12:38. In the Israelites departure from ,ערב רב The mixed multitude, or Mitzrayim, the biblical text says: “moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them.” A mixed multitude of others - Egyptians and others living in Mitzrayim who, like the Israelites, needed to escape from the narrow place. We have always been a mixed multitude. Throughout this haggadah, when possible we use “Mitzrayim” instead of “Egypt.” In this time of anti- Arab racism against non-Jewish Arabs and against Mizrahim (Jews of Arab descent), it is not generative to focus our story of liberation on just one Arab/North African location - but rather to understand Mitzrayim as a metaphor for the narrow, stuck state of injustice and oppression. A state that continues today. One challenge for many seders is the variety of approaches to Judaism and religion, including that we often host a mix of humanists, theists, atheists, agnostics, and people who are not Jewish. We have strived to have a balance in our shaping of this haggadah. Where possible, blessings include both traditional blessings, replacing ruach (spirit) for melech (king), and humanistic blessings, and include denotes the four-letter name for God, and should be read יְ יָ .Hebrew, transliteration, and translation as “Adonai.” Humanist blessings come from or are modeled off of the blessings found in the Humanist Haggadah for Passover.1 So much gratitude to all who have contributed to the creation of this haggadah. The text was written cooperatively by Graie Barasch-Hagans, Robin Blanc, Ruben Brosbe, Megan Madison, and Mackenzie Reynolds. We are grateful as well for the additional writings offered by Ora Batashvili, Yasmin Safdie, Emma Shakarshy, and Keren Soffer Sharon from the Jews for Racial & Economic Justice Mizrahi Haggadah 2015, and by Graie Barasch-Hagans, Sarah Barasch-Hagans, Leo Ferguson, KB Frazier, Evan Traylor, and Yehudah Webster from the Jews for Racial & Economic Justice #BLM Haggadah Supplement. Artwork was originally designed for the #BLM Haggadah Supplement by Raul Ayala and Sarah Quinter. Many, many thanks to you all for all your vision, creativity, and work. 1 Machar - The Washington Congregation for Secular Humanistic Judaism. The Humanistic Haggadah for Pesach. 2002. http://uuja.org/holidays/lit/Humanist_Haggadah.pdf. The Seder Blessing the Day over Wine דֵקַ ּ ׁש Handwashing ְּור ַחץ. Eating a Green Vegetable ְַכּר ַפּס Breaking the Middle Matzah יַ חַ ץ . Telling the Exodus Story ַמִגּיד Handwashing Before the Meal ַ ר חַ ץ . Eating the Matzah ִמֹוצַיא מָצּה. Eating the Bitter Herb ָמרֹור ”Eating the “Hillel Sandwich ֵכֹּרְך. Eating the Festival Meal ֻש ְׁלָחֹן ֵערְך. Eating the Afikomen ָצפּון Gratitude ֵָבּרְך. Songs of Praise הַ לֵ ּ ל Conclusion נִ ְר צָ ה . 4 The Seder Plate Z’roa: a shankbone or beet, which represents the mighty hand and outstretched arm that – זרוע liberated us from Mitzrayim. .Maror: horseradish, which represents the bitterness of slavery in Mitzrayim - מרור Chazeret: collard greens, which represent the bitterness of racial injustice, oppression, and – חזרת state-sanctioned violence towards and criminalization of black and brown people. ...Charoset: a mixture of dried fruits and nuts, A Note about the Orange – חרוסת which represents the mortar used to lay bricks, the The orange was first placed on the seder work done while enslaved in Mitzrayim. plate in the 80s by Susanna Heschel, Kafe: coffee beans, which represent the bitterness daughter of Rabbi Abraham Joshua - קפה of modern slavery, through forced migrant labor, Heschel. One year, while speaking at bonded labor, slavery, human trafficking, sex traffick- Oberlin College Hillel, she found a ing, and child labor. suggestion in a feminist Haggadah to add Beitzah: an egg, which represents life, whole- a crust of bread to the seder plate as a sign – ביצה of solidarity with Jewish lesbians. The ness, and liberation. bread, it was said, referred to the idea that Karpas: parsley, which represents growth, there’s as much room for lesbians in – כרפס change, and life. Judaism as there is for bread on a seder Salt Water: which represents our tears while plate. Bread on the seder plate renders the – מי מלח enslaved, and our tenacity and chutzpah in fighting for plates, table, meal, and house not kosher liberation. for Passover, so this idea essentially says that lesbians in Judaism transmit impurity Tapuz: an orange, which represents gender and into Judaism. Uncomfortable with – תפוז sexual equality and justice, especially for queers, trans connecting queer Jews with impurity, and gender variant people, and women. Heschel decided instead to put an orange Zayit: an olive, which represents solidarity with on her seder plate, as a symbol of – זית Palestinians and Palestine and the struggle for justice inclusion and the fruitfulness that queer and peace in Israel and Palestine. Jews bring to Judaism. Candlelighting From now on I will make burning my aim, for I am like the candle: burning only makes me brighter. Rumi Light, using one of these blessings ָּבַרּוְך ָאּת ְה יָיֱאלֹ ֵ ֽה רּוחָ ַינּו הָעֹולֲם אֶׁשִר קְּדָׁשנּו ְֵנָבר ְֶך אָתהְאֹור ּכָאֶׁשִר נָּקַבְץ ָּבַצות ְא לַהְדִליק ְָּבִמְצֹות ְיו וִצָּוְנּו לַהְדִלֵיק נֶר ׁשל יֹום טֹוב. ֵנֶרֹות ׁשְל יֹום טֹוב. ּבָאֹור הֵחְרּות ֵנָבר ְֶך את ָהַחִּיים. N’varech et ha’or k’asher nikavatz b’tzavta Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu ruach ha’olam, l’hadlik neirot shel yom tov. B’or ha’cherut asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner n’varech et ha’chayiim. shel yom tov. Let us celebrate the light Blessed are you, God, Spirit of the universe, as we gather together who has made us holy through the to kindle the festival candles. commandments, and has commanded us to With the light of liberation, let us celebrate life. light the candles of this holiday. 5 On Reclining by Yehudah Webster & Leo Ferguson Originally in the Jews for Racial & Economic Justice #BLM Haggadah Supplement When drinking the four cups and eating the matzah, we lean on our left side to accentuate the fact that we are free people.